Growing Pains 2: Dawn cometh
by wren10514
Summary: Sequel to Growing Pains with xover twist. Dawn is in search for Guld too and Jon does act rather strangely...COMPLETE but with a sequel to come.
1. Chapter 1

Crossover: SG1/BtVS

Characters: Jon O'Neill, Dawn Summers, Oz, Jack O'Neill, various OCs

Summary: Dawn comes to Colorado Springs to investigate.

----x----

"Are you sure you don't mind? It's just we're trying to cover three known hellmouths now and Buffy doesn't want her to go on her own, but there's no one else we can send, and I don't mean you're our last resort guy, even though, in this case, I guess you are..."

"Willow. It's fine. I'll take care of her."

"It's probably nothing anyway..."

"Exactly. Dawn will be back before you know it."

----x----

Jon lifted his head at the sound of the door. The teacher had been droning on about poetry during the Great War as if the actual fighting had just been a side note. Since Mr Lester had left he'd really been struggling to stay awake in English. Still, he couldn't blame Mr Lester for leaving: being possessed by a Goa'uld left it's mark. He remembered.

A girl entered. She was pretty: slim, long brown hair, perky smile. If she were twenty years older...He sighed to himself. He was turning into a monk, but dating high school girls was still just a little too creepy for him. Besides, Cassie would never look at him again if he tried it.

The girl passed the teacher a piece of paper.

"Everyone," Mrs Bell annouced, "this is Dawn Summers. She will be transferring into this class for the rest of the semester. Dawn, there's a seat free in the second row."

Dawn's eyes scanned the class in a glance as she walked over and took her seat. Jon tensed as he met her eyes for a fraction of a second. This was not normal behaviour for a teenager. He should know. He spent most of his time studying them to try not to stick out like the old man he really was. A normal teenager would have kept their eyes down, tried not to be noticed as the odd one out. That or play it up and make sure they were noticed as cool or as a clown. This casual, confident glance that seemed more like casing the joint than worrying about fitting in at a new school was definitely a new one on him.

For a moment Jon thought of the Goa'uld that had infiltrated the school a couple of months ago: it had warned that there were others, but he dismissed his thought just as quickly. A new transfer student was the least likely person to be infected: she wouldn't even have been around when the Goa'uld had been making their move. They still didn't know how many immature Goa'uld might be out there, lying dormant in unknowing hosts, but he felt pretty certain this girl wasn't one of them.

Seeing her with Cassie at lunch kind of confirmed it. Cassie would have come running to him the second she sensed a Goa'uld. One less thing to worry about...

Except Jon couldn't escape the feeling that there was more to this girl. She had a way of looking over a room that was almost military. As if she were constantly looking for possible threats. Not that high school couldn't be tough, but this Dawn was going a bit far.

He sighed as he opened his locker for his latin books. Maybe being away from the job was finally starting to get to him. The past couple of months had been blissfully quiet and that just wasn't something his mind was used to. Months in a row without having his neck on the block in one way or another just didn't happen to him: hadn't happened to him since he had enlisted. Maybe his brain just couldn't cope with the quiet life.

He slammed his locker shut and jumped at the sudden appearance of Neil.

"We're going to be late!"

His friend set off quickly down the corridor and Jon easily fell into step with him, a smile on his face.

"You know we have not been late for a single latin class this whole year."

"No thanks to you." Neil pouted and Jon couldn't help but laugh softly at his seriousness.

"How're you doing with that construction I gave you?" His voice was carefully casual, but Neil stiffened at the mention.

"It's fascinating!" He kept his voice low, but there was no mistaking the excitement in it. "It's like something I saw online once."

"Really?" Jon asked. He had been teaching Neil what he knew of Ancient for a while now and the kid had a real knack for it despite the fact that no one outside the airforce should even know it existed. If Neil had seem something like it online...

"Yeah, there's a guy on one of the construct language forums who was trying to incorporate something like it into one of his languages, but was having trouble with the tenses. I wish I could show him this." Neil continued quickly. "I know I can't, but it would so solve his problem."

Jon breathed a sigh of relief. False alarm. He tried not to feel disappointed.

They stepped into the dim Latin room and Jon stopped short. Dawn was there talking to the teacher quietly while the small class got themselves seated. Not many kids went in for Latin class, there was only other girl and three boys including Jon and Neil. What were the chances that the new girl, a girl popular enough to get recognised by Cassie and her friends, would actually want to take Latin? It didn't seem likely, but as Jon took his seat he tried not to read anything into it. So Dawn was a well-rounded kid: good for her. If only more of the kids around here were like that maybe high school wouldn't be such a pain in the -

"Everyone, this is Dawn Summers. Her old school taught a number of different ancient languages and I'm sure we can all learn a lot from her. Take a seat Dawn and we'll get started."

It was a small room, but there were plenty of seats given the size of the class. So what were the odds she would sit next to Jon?

Pretty good it turned out.

He returned her smile as she sat down next to him and tried to focus on the teacher for the rest of the lesson. It wasn't hard. Despite having the knowledge of the Ancients in his head and spending a time loop learning the damn stuff languages still didn't come naturally to him. He was determined that next time he went through the gate he'd be as prepared as he could be. He had a good grounding in physics from flight school and running into a number of the cultures from his ancient history class had certainly helped him understand the basics, but he needed all the help he could get with this.

His head ached by the time class was over.

"Hey," Dawn said hesitantly beside him as they packed their things away, "you're in my English lit class right?"

"Uh, yeah. Jon O'Neill." Neil gave him a thumbs up sign which he resolutely ignored as he fell into step with Dawn as they left class. "So, where have you moved from?"

"Cleveland, but my last school was in Sunnydale, California."

"The one that collapsed? Wasn't there a big earthquake or something?"

Dawn smiled, but Jon wasn't fooled. He had lost enough people to know that look. "Or something."

"Sorry."

She shook herself and a bright smile came to her face. "It's fine. Well, I've got math now. I guess I'll catch you later."

"Sure later."

He returned her wave as she left and wondered what someone her age could possibly have seen to reflect so darkly in her eyes.

----x----

Lunch the next day he saw her again.

She was with Cassie and her friends getting her food from the counter. He was sat at a table with Neil and some random guys from their year who seemed happy to stick to their own conversation. Dawn was laughing with Cassie: they seemed to be getting on well. That was good. Cassie was a good kid and if anyone understood what it was like to go through losing your entire town it was her. Even if Cassie could never talk to Dawn outright about how her planet had been wiped out, that kind of thing left a mark Dawn would recognise. It would be good for both of them to have someone who understood.

"You like her don't you?"

Jon took a bite of his...He wasn't sure what it was, but he focused on his plate anyway. "Who?"

Neil rolled his eyes. "Dawn. You don't have to hide it, man." He paused before continuing. "Unless this is another 'Uncle Jack' situation?"

"What did I say about never bringing that up?" Jon made his voice firm, but Neil just waved his tone off.

"Fine, fine it's not that. It's cool. She's cool. I mean a girl that pretty who likes Latin? Man, if you hadn't got there first I'd be all over it."

Jon grimaced. "Go for it. I'm not interested in Dawn."

"You serious? How can you not be interested in her? Are you gay? 'Cause it'd be totally ok if you were-"

Time to stop that line of thinking. "I'm not gay. I'm just not interested in Dawn."

Yet his eyes found her in the crowded room. She was pretty: she'd be gorgeous in a few years when her figure had had a chance to fill out, but seeing her there with Cassie...If Cassie was like a niece to him what would one of her friends be? He might call himself Jon these days, but he knew some parts of him would always be Jack.

They had gym after lunch. Jon had been working hard to get his condition back and was pretty happy with how he was now. It would take a little longer to get back to how he had been, but he was fit enough that gym class was about as taxing as a walk in the park. He stepped out of the changing rooms resigned to another hour of boredom, but wasn't prepared for the little wave Dawn gave him from where she stood huddled with some of the other girls in their sweat pants and tshirts. He lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave back and went to stand with Neil.

"Not a word." He said as he caught the look on Neil's face.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The coach, a burly woman in a dated pink and green shell suit, said. "Gather round please! Now, today we're starting a new set of lessons in basic self defense. Anybody here done any self defense before?" A handful of people raised their hands and Jon was surprised to see Dawn was one of them. He rose his hand and noticed that Bobby did the same. "All right I want to test each of those people quickly and try and put you with a partner who is a comparable level. I'll work on some more advanced moves with you once the rest of the class are set up. Jon and Mike front and centre. You two can go first. I want to see you spar on the mats there."

Jon prepared himself to go easy on the kid, but it wasn't long before Mike was down on the mats. They stepped aside and Bobby went next against another guy. Bobby had obviously been practising. Jon nodded in approval as he took his guy down. He had a long way to go yet, but it was nice to see that all that had happened had encouraged the kid to get some real training rather than relying on intimidation and size. Bobby nodded to him as he came off the mat and Jon returned it. They hadn't spoken since "the incident", but when it came to Bobby not speaking was a step in the right direction.

Next came Dawn and the only other girl who had put her hand up. The other girl was a karate student and to start with Jon didn't like Dawn's chances. The girl knew her stuff and pressed Dawn, but Dawn had other ideas. Her form was terrible, her arms looking too long for her body as she flailed, but not a single hit connected and the match was over with a quick kick to the knees that had the karate girl sprawled on the mat whimpering for a moment before Dawn knelt next to her gushing apologies and helped her up.

"Ms Summers!" The coach barked. "That kind of form will not be accepted in this class. You will partner with Jon. Maybe he can teach you some restraint!"

"Yes miss," Dawn said quietly, her head bowed and went to stand by Jon.

"Go over to those mats there and spar in your pairs while I get these lot sorted."

Jon led Dawn over to a mat.

"Don't worry about her," he said, "in a real fight you did the right thing. Do enough damage to get away and run like hell."

"That's what Buffy says."

"Your coach?" he asked.

She shook her head, her long brown hair waving with the movement. "My sister. Well, I guess you could kind of call her my coach too. She's big on making sure I can protect myself."

"Your folks don't mind?"

She shrugged. "Mom died a few years ago and we've got no idea where Dad might be. We look after each other."

"I live on my own myself. It's good you have your sister to with you." He fell into an easy stance and saw her do an imitation of something similar. She really didn't have much finesse. "Here." He went over to her and corrected her stance. She had a long scar across each palm. He tried not to focus on it, but filed it away in the back of his mind to think about later.

"Oh Buffy's back in Cleveland. I'm just staying with a friend of hers for a while." She faced him with determination. "So, do you want to do this or what?"

They sparred. What Dawn lacked in finesse she made up for in enough dirty tricks to keep him on his toes. He wanted to shake her sister's hand: a girl Dawn's size couldn't afford to worry about niceties if she was attacked. Still she also couldn't afford to waste what little strength she had. Jon corrected her moves slightly to put what force she had behind them and showed her something a little more standard for the benefit of the coach when she came round to check on them.

He was actually out of breath by the end of the lesson and thanked Dawn for the workout. She beamed at him.

"No problem. I had fun."

She had a pretty smile.

----x----

"Hey Cassandra!"

Cassie turned and smiled as Dawn came hurrying up. She liked the new girl despite what everyone said about her being weird. They said the same about her sometimes. The really popular girls always did. She did her best to try and pretend she was just a normal Tauri, but she guessed there was no fooling some people.

"Hey, what's up?"

Dawn beamed. "Someone said you knew Jon O'Neill?"

Cassie sighed. "Yeah, he's kind of a friend of the family."

Her eyes sparkled and Cassie knew they'd lost another one. Why did so many girls like Uncle Jack? It was creepy. "Look, I don't mean to shoot you down, but I don't think Jon's real interested in dating."

"He's gay?"

Cassie shook her head vehemently. "Not at all. He's just a bookworm you know? More interested in studying that going on dates."

"New girl, you like the nerdy type?" Bobby came round the corner and dumped an arm around Dawn's shoulders. "You should go out with my buddy Jake." He slapped his other hand on a beaming Jake's shoulder. "He actually reads the articles in his skin mags."

"Gross!" Dawn heaved his arm off her as his friends started laughing.

Cassie bristled at Bobby's behaviour. "Why don't you go bash your heads against walls or whatever it is you footballers do." They kept laughing as they walked away. "Jerks."

"At least they don't wear their letterman jackets all the time." Dawn looked down for a moment, then put on a smile. "Hey do you want to come over tonight? Oz has promised to use his mighty cooking skills to order pizza."

Cassie laughed. "Cool. I'll grab that dvd I was talking about before and we can watch it."

"Great! I'll see you later."


	2. Chapter 2

Cassie knocked on the apartment door. She had been surprised that Dawn lived in such an upscale neighbourhood. She felt like she should have dressed up or at least changed into jeans that were less frayed at the cuffs. Dawn answered the door quickly and enthusiastically.

"Hi! I'm glad you made it! Come on in, Oz was just about to order - what do you want on yours?"

Cassie stepped mutely over the threshold. The apartment was huge! It had real wood floors with big thick rugs and heavy wooden furniture that looked like it would weigh a ton, but in clean modern styles. The door opened directly on to the front room/kitchen and there was a giant TV taking up one wall, though it looked like Dawn and Oz favoured the floor to the squidgy looking couch as there were throws and pillows piled in front of it, an abandoned game controller in the midst of it.

Dawn grinned smugly as she strolled up and handed over a pizza menu. "Neat huh? It's not ours. We're borrowing off some rich friends for a while. Oh hey, you've got to see this!"

Dawn took her wrist and guided her over to an entertainment system next to the TV.

"The whole place is wired with speakers, see?" She pressed play and music that sounded kind of like pan pipes flowed out into the room. Dawn pulled a face. "Oz has no taste." A click of a button and it was replaced with pop. "Better, I guess. See, now if we go to the kitchen." Dawn pulled her along. The music wasn't loud, but they could hear it just as clearly from here.

"Cool," Cassie said with a smile.

"Hey Dawn," a man with short red hair that looked like it was well on the way to making itself into dreadlocks leaned round the door to the rest of the apartment. "Hey," he said to Cassie and she returned the subdued greeting. "You decided yet?"

"Oh yeah! Cassandra, what do you want?"

They ordered pizza and Oz ate with them round the island in the kitchen, Dawn doing most of the talking. Oz was pretty quiet. He wore a baggy tunic shirt that looked like it had been around a while and had pendants on leather thongs and all kinds of cotton bands hanging round his neck and up his arms. He certainly wasn't the kind of boy she would ever go for, but she liked him. He seemed...Free.

They put on the dvd and Oz retreated to his room while they made themselves comfortable on the cushions on the floor. Cassie felt something poke into her and reached under the cushions to pull out a short length of wood, its end whittled to a point. She looked questioningly at Dawn who laughed nervously.

"Oz and his crafts. Never know where you're going to find them!"

The dvd was pretty good. They only paused it once to get drinks. Cassie was surprised to see the amount of red meat in their fridge.

"I would have thought Oz would be the vegetarian type..."

Dawn did that nervous laugh again. "Oz? He likes his meat. I mean he likes to eat meat! Not that kind of meat, pork!"

Cassie collapsed into giggles as Dawn dug herself further and further into a hole and forgot why she had even brought it up.

"Hey Dawn," Oz said as he came into the living room. Cassie forced back the giggles that threatened to overcome her as she looked at him after what Dawn had been saying. "I'm heading out for a bit. You going to be ok?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "We'll be fine. This isn't Sunnydale: it's not even Cleveland."

Oz smiled, unfazed by Dawn's sulky tone. "I'll be back in a while."

At this time of night Cassie thought he'd get cold and come back pretty quickly for a coat if nothing else. Someone was obviously too used to California: some states actually had seasons. It was spring, but summer was still a long way off and it was already dark out.

Cassie glanced at her watch. "Wow, it's pretty late. Oz likes late night walks huh?"

Dawn pulled a face. "Yeah, he's the communing with nature type. Likes to take walks at night when there's no one around."

"Yeah, I guess Jon is kind of the same."

"He is?"

To Cassie, Dawn sounded a little pleased to be hearing about Jon even if she couldn't believe it.

She nodded. "He's really into astronomy. Goes to the astronomy club at school and takes his telescope out to the lake away from the bright lights at night sometimes."

"The lake?"

Now Dawn sounded worried, though she hid it well under fained interest.

"Sure. He likes to fish too. Is that bad?"

"What?" Dawn jumped like someone had just pricked her and slapped on a wide smile. "Nope, nothing wrong with being out by the lake in the middle of the night. Speaking of, it is getting kind of late."

Cassie nodded. She had no idea why Dawn was suddenly trying to get rid of her, but it was getting late. Janet was going to make her curfew even earlier if she wasn't careful.

"Yeah, I better get going. My mum gets all twitchy if I'm out late."

Dawn saw her to the door. "Thanks for having me over."

Dawn smiled: the genuine article this time. "No problem. It was really fun, you should come over again."

They said their goodbyes, but as soon as the door shut Cassie nipped round the corner out of sight, hidden by the shadows. Sure enough Dawn came out only seconds later.

Cassie sighed. No matter how curious she was she really didn't want to worry Janet. She turned towards home and hoped Dawn got over her thing for Uncle Jack soon. It was just too gross to contemplate.

----x----

Jon eased back from his telescope and stared up at the night sky with his own eyes for a while.

Sometimes even he found it hard to believe that he had actually been out that far. Well, not this body, but him nonetheless. He might be trying to make a life for himself separate of his older self, but those were some memories he was never going to give up. Seeing a sky eclipsed by a gas giant, watching stars and planets in whole new formations...That one time when the sun exploded was pretty cool too.

If the closest he could get now was through a telescope he could live with that for a little while. Just over four years and he could get back out there. The airforce would re-commission him at 21 and he'd be out there again. He had to admit that it wasn't just the stargate he was looking forward to working with again. It'd be nice to work with people who understood his...Unique position. High school was fine for now, and college had to be better, but he couldn't wait to be treated like an adult again. It was probably conceited, but he was used to getting some respect: after the things he'd been through for his country he thought he had earned a little. Not too much: no more medals for crying out loud, but not to be treated like some punk teenager either. Yeah, it'd definitely be nice to work with people who knew what he was.

A twig snapped in the distance.

Probably a deer or some other woodland critter, Jon thought, but for some reason he stiffened, his hand reaching for the pocket of his nearby bag and the zat he had there.

Another snap and suddenly Jon was certain this wasn't any local animal. He couldn't have said why, but there was something wrong. The trees around him suddenly sounded far too quiet, even the breeze seemed to be holding it's breath.

Suddenly there was a clattering through the trees. He spun to face whatever was coming towards him, the zat up and ready. Whatever it was he knew he could have two shots off before it even cleared the cover of the trees-

"Dawn?" he said as he caught sight of a pale face amongst the brush. She was panting and covered in leaves. He stared for a moment in confusion before quickly lowering his weapon. "What are you doing out here?"

"I," she began then stopped to pant some more. "I was looking for my friend. He came for a walk out here and I thought..." He noticed the raw steak in her hand. She quickly threw it into the brush as if she could pretend she hadn't had it, but when their eyes met for a split second Jon could see the embarrassment. Then her eyes drifted down to his own hand and he hastily dumped the zat in his bag.

"What was that?" Dawn asked. She moved closer hesitantly.

"Nothing." Jon forced himself not to hide his hand behind his back. "Nothing at all."

Pretty much thirty years of military experience and that was the best he could come up with?

"It looked like a gun. Were you pointing a gun at me?"

"Of course not! Why would I point a gun at you? Anyway what are you doing out here so late?"

Great, from a green recruit to sounding like her dad.

She turned her face away. "I'm looking for Oz." He raised a puzzled eyebrow and she continued quickly. "He's a friend of my sister. He's looking after me while I'm here."

"And he does that by leaving you alone in the woods?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "He didn't leave me here. He went for walk and I came to find him."

Jon shook his head. Young people had no sense of self preservation. The woods here weren't exactly wild so close to town, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous to walk around in them in the middle of the night. He started packing up his stuff.

"You really shouldn't be out here alone. Come on, I'll walk you home."

She backed away a step, looking wary again rather than just annoyed. "It's ok. I need to find Oz..."

"Don't be ridiculous, there could be anything out here."

She narrowed her eyes again. "I'm not being ridiculous! You're out here alone too you know!"

Jon gaped for a moment. "I've been trained-"

"And you think I haven't! Try living on the hellmouth and then say I haven't been trained!"

"The what?"

"Dawn? Is everything ok?"

Jon spun round, ready to meet the owner of the voice from behind him even before the words had registered. When they did he relaxed. This must be Oz. He certainly looked pretty harmless: short, skinny with a dress sense that said 'Earth child'.

Dawn deflated immediately. "It's fine Oz. This is Jon, from school."

Oz raised his eyebrows and Jon shivered. It was like he knew that Jon was different, though of course that was impossible...

"You shouldn't be out here alone Dawn." Oz said quietly and moved to stand next to her.

"Please, after Sunnydale -"

"You still shouldn't."

He didn't raise his voice or even look stern, but Dawn bowed her head. Jon hadn't seen such a calm and effective attitude to discipline...well, ever.

Oz turned to him. "We'd better go. Thanks."

"Uh...No problem."

Dawn sighed. "Sorry I blew up. I'll see you at school."

She waved and Jon found himself waving after her. "Yeah, see you."

They were both pretty weird. And unfortunately in Jon's experience weird generally meant taken over by alien snakes.

Sometimes he wished he had different experience.

----x----

"He's weird. Really weird. Weird generally means possessed or, you know, otherwise demonic-like."

"What about Xander?"

Dawn scoffed. "He's not that weird. And anyway - demon magnet."

Oz smiled and nodded. "Doesn't mean Jon is possessed though."

"But!" Dawn pointed fiercely as she laid out her argument. "He was one of the ones there. I've checked all the others. Cassie is normal, Neil is a nerd, but otherwise normal, Bobby is a jerk, but sadly that amounts to normal in high school. The teacher isn't there anymore and then there's Jon acting all weird. I mean what teenager is that confident and smart? He's taking extra classes on top of his extra classes and is freakishly fast and strong in PE. Then goes and points a weapon at me! I mean sure, demonic-types generally go for axes or huge teeth and claws, but it was a really odd looking, quite possibly demonic, weapon."

Despite what she was saying she hadn't wanted it to be Jon. He really had seemed nice, but last night had clinched it for her. He was the only one it could have jumped in to and Willow was sure there was still a presence here. It was why Junior Watcher Dawn had been sent to check it out.

"He smelled human, although..."

Dawn waited patiently for Oz to finish. She found she did that a lot around him. At first it had been kind of annoying, but once she had got used to not shouting to be heard all the time she had come to like the calm that pooled around Oz. It was going to be hard to go back to the craziness of the Cleveland house once all this was over.

"...There was something strange. He's definitely human, but there's something else..."

"See! It has to be him!" Dawn glowed a little with triumph, though something deep inside her squirmed uncomfortably.

Oz nodded slowly.

"Ok then we had better contact Willow to do the spell."

Dawn glowed a little brighter. "No need. Willow taught me every step of the exorcism spell before we left. We just have to find a way to get him on his own for a little while..."

"You think he'll just let us exorcise him?"

Dawn pondered. "I guess not." She glanced at her watch. "Crap! I'm going to be late! I'll think of something at school - bye!"

She almost missed her bus, but a quick sprint got her there just as it was about to pull away. Luckily she was on the edge of town and managed to grab a seat near the front before the bus filled up at the other stops. She rested her chin on her hand and watched the town roll by. It was different from Sunnyhell and Cleveland: peaceful. Guess that's what places were like when they didn't have a hellmouth causing nightly mayhem. Sometimes daily too.

Though even this place wasn't immune. The new mini Council had heard about a strange occurance with a high school english teacher a few months ago and passed it along for someone on the front line to investigate. It had taken a while to get round to it. Turns out big evil just didn't respect that they needed to take care of the non-apocalypse stuff too. Even when they'd looked into it it had been hard to find anything concrete until Willow had blitzed the to do pile with magic one day. She had picked up a serious presence of slimy evil and suddenly Colorado Springs was a priority. They had had just long enough to work out what the demon was before the big evil of the month had come round and suddenly the only one left to take care of it was little old Dawn.

Dawn smiled to herself. It had been so cool to actually be asked to go out and do field work. She was sure if Buffy had been in the country she would have gone schizo at the suggestion, but she could so handle this. She had infiltrated the school hadn't she? And investigated the likely candidates for a body-hopping demon. She even had a total prime suspect even if she kind of wished it had been someone else.

She didn't know why, but there was something about Jon...He was just so together. Kind of like Oz in a weird way: completely sure of himself. Only without the werewolf side.

She hoped without the werewolf side. A possessed werewolf was just a little too high on her freakout-o-meter.

The bus was starting to fill up, but not with anyone Dawn knew. She kept staring out the window and wondered what to do next. There was no way she could just go up to Jon and say "I think you might be possessed, mind if I throw this magical powder on you and chant for a while?" But what could she do? She needed some way to incapacitate him...Oz would help, but the way he had been in self defense she wasn't even sure Oz could hold him for long. Werewolf strength not so much a match for actual skill. Maybe Cassie would help? Nah, even if she believed her about demons Jon was an old childhood friend: she'd never believe he was possessed.

Then a thought came to her: a way they could be alone...

She swallowed thickly as school came into sight.

Her last date had been with a vampire. Did she really want the next one to be with someone possessed by a demon? She really was turning into Buffy. But it wasn't like she would have to go through the whole date. Just ask him to pick her up and find some way to keep him in the flat...

Assuming he said yes.


	3. Chapter 3

Jon sat in the dark classroom, head in his hands.

If he ever saw that little grey bastard Loki again he was going to kill him. Thor too for marking up Jack's DNA so any clone was doomed to this stupid existence.

"Dude there you are!" Jon cringed at Neil's chirpy voice and screwed his eyes shut at the sudden harsh flourescent light. "I heard Dawn asked you out! And you turned her down!"

Jon cringed further. "Oh this is just too disturbing..."

He wasn't even aware he had spoken out loud until Neil replied. "What are you talking about man? Dawn's hot-"

Jon groaned. "Don't use that word."

The chair scraped out next to him and he felt more than saw Neil sit down beside him. "Seriously, are you sure you're not gay?"

Jon raised his head. "For the last time I'm not gay."

Neil shrugged. "I'm just saying I don't know a guy in this school that would turn Dawn down."

Jon spoke quietly. "I didn't want to turn her down..."

And that was what was so disturbing. Even after their weird little encounter in the woods he couldn't help liking Dawn. If she were even ten years older he wouldn't say no to a few dates, see where things went...

But she wasn't ten years older and neither was he and that was the problem. He liked her, he knew it was perfectly reasonable to go out with her the way he was now, but hell, Charlie would be older than her by now if the accident... No matter how old he looked he felt old enough to be her father and her date at the same time and that was just too disturbing. How could a man who remembered having a wife and son, let alone all the dubious missions he did in special ops, go out on a date with a sixteen-year-old?

"So why did you?" Neil went on. "Does it have something to do with-"

"Ah! We had a deal. No discussing what may or may not have come out over the whole Mr Lester situation."

Neil sighed. "You know, that deal got old really fast."

Jon put his head back in his hands. "Sorry," he said softly. "It's something I just have to live with."

"Jon? Oh hi Neil..."

Jon turned at the familiar voice and saw Cassie in the doorway. Neil stood at rocket speed and Jon could see his adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

"Hi Cassandra!" Neil said, a little too exuberantly.

"Hey Cassie," Jon said more morosely. "What can I do for you?"

Cassie met Neil's eye. "Mind if we have a minute alone?"

Neil looked flustered, but headed to the door. "Oh yeah sure. I'll just," he gestured to the door and beat a hasty retreat.

"I think he likes you," Jon said with a smile.

Cassie pulled a face. "Neil? Please."

"He's not a bad guy."

"Jon." Her face turned serious as she took Neil's seat next to him, but looked at the floor. "Do you like Dawn?"

Jon groaned. "Cassie...Don't. It's too weird. I'm old enough to be her dad for crying out loud."

Cassie shook her head. "I know it's weird. I mean you've seen me in my nighty with medical stuff all over me as my heart was about to explode. SG1 saved my life and half the time I still want to call you Uncle Jack, but you're not my Uncle Jack. You're different from him."

Jon sighed. "I know I never went through what happened to him. Those things never happened to me, but it's not just the age thing Cassie. There are things I remember that I did, that were done to me..." He shook his head. "I still have nightmares-"

"So do I." Cassie said, her voice resolute. "I remember everyone around me dead. I had to survive on my own for days before you got there, surrounded by bodies, everyone I knew dead."

"Cassie..."

"Janet taught me that that doesn't have to be the time in my life that defines who I am. Who I am now is more important."

Jon met her eyes finally. "And who am I now? This body isn't even a year old yet, and all I remember being is Jack."

Cassie forced a little smile. "Maybe you should go out with Dawn and find out?"

Jon sighed. "Why? Why do you want me to go out with her?"

Cassie shrugged and stood. "You're my friends."

She left Jon with his thoughts.

This was stupid. He was old enough that he could do this. It wasn't a big deal: just think of it like going out with Danny or Sam. A couple of friends enjoying each other's company. He could do that with someone of any age. Yeah. Friends.

He got up. There was only one more class of the day so he was pretty sure where he would find Dawn: the latin books were too heavy to carry around all day.

He found her by her locker, her long straight hair curtaining her face. She brushed it back behind one ear and he caught a glimpse of the studious look on her face as she flicked through a textbook.

"Hey, Dawn." Way to go Mr Suave. "I'm sorry about earlier, I think maybe I was a little too hasty..."

"Really?" Hope flashed in her eyes and he found himself smiling with her.

"Yeah. So maybe I could pick you up about seven tomorrow?"

She clutched her books to her chest and beamed at him. "That would be perfect! Um, are you going to Latin class?"

"Oh, yeah, Latin. I still need to get my books." He gestured in the direction of his locker.

She really had lovely eyes. "Mind if I walk with you?"

"Sure, that would be great."

----x----

"He'll be here any minute."

"I know Dawn."

She paced. "I'm just saying..."

"It'll be ok."

"I know, I know. I've practiced the spell loads, it'll only take a few minutes to cast, then we squish whatever slimes it's way out of him, give him the standard 'welcome to weirdsville' speech and he either accepts that we just exorcised a demon out of him or goes completely postal. No problem."

"Breathe Dawnie."

She took in long panting breaths. It didn't seem to help.

The doorbell rang and she jumped out of her skin.

"Oh my God he's here!"

Oz laid a hand on her arm. "As we practiced. Go into the spare room and I'll bring him through."

Dawn dashed to the spare room, careful to walk round the carefully chalked circle on the floor, but when she heard Oz answer the door she just couldn't stand still. The room was tiny, just a box room, with no furniture and a bare, unvarnished hardwood floor, perfect for inscribing runes on. Dawn had found evidence of old spells when she had been drawing her own runes on the floor, but then the flat did belong to the Council. She's was careful not to jiggle any of the charms in the small room as she paced. Willow had been strict about that. If this was going to work without a real practitioner everything had to be perfect. Dawn had memorised the spell, but had the book too just in case she forgot anything. She picked it up and looked over it again as she heard them walking towards her. She took a deep breath and turned her back to the door. She wasn't sure she could do this if she had to watch Jon walk into it.

"Dawn?" His voice. He sounded kind of confused: well he would be. "What's going on?" The first spell was silent, but she felt the prickle on her skin that meant it had worked and cringed. "Ah crap. This can't be good." A faint thump sounded like him hitting the shield and she spun round.

Jon was stood in the circle, surrounded by a faint green light on all sides. He knocked at the inside again.

"I'm so sorry!" Dawn said. He looked like he had made an effort as well. He was wearing one of those fashionably creased shirts with jeans and had obviously tried to gel his hair a bit different: more spikey. It looked nice. "I just need to do this spell to get rid of the demon and then you can go. I am sorry honestly."

"Demon? Oh this is just super."

"Dawn." Oz's voice was firm where he stood in the doorway.

"Ok, ok." She grabbed the pouch of dust from the floor and threw it at the shield. Willow said that the shield was one-way and it seemed to work since Jon spluttered when the dust hit his face. Dawn almost apologised again, but stopped herself. This was part of the spell now and she couldn't afford to mess it up.

She started chanting. There were lots of hard consonants, but she had been practicing so much she was sure she got them all right. It wasn't a long spell but it seemed to go on forever as she tried to concentrate while Jon battered at the inside of the shield and asked for someone to tell him what was going on. He didn't sound that mad though. He seemed like such a nice guy: pity there was no way he was going to come near her after this. Ah well, once the spell was done they were going home anyway.

Focus Dawn, she told herself, almost done.

She pronounced the last few syllables and there was a little 'poof!' noise from inside the shield as the dust vapourised around Jon. It floated around him for a minute before falling to the floor.

Nothing else. Dawn looked nervously at her notes. She was sure she had got it right, but he should have horked up a demon for Oz to squish and he was just standing there looking a little confused. She met his eyes.

"Mind explaining what's going on now?"

"Dawn?" Oz asked from the doorway.

"I did everything right I'm sure of it!"

Oz came in a laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you did Dawnie. Maybe he's just not the one who's possessed."

"But it can't be any of the others!"

"Ahem." They both turned to Jon, still trapped behind the pearlescent green shield. "Just a side note. Mind telling me what these demons you are after are called. Just curious as to what you think has possessed me you understand."

Dawn reached for the leather and iron-bound book next to the circle and flipped it open. "It was something weird. We've just been calling them Guld for short."

Jon smiled humorlessly. "Thanks. That just makes my day. Really. Because my life just couldn't get any more screwed up that I need the new girl to not only know about the Goa'uld, which is all kinds of classified by the way, but think they're demons and surround me in sparkling purple smoke to get rid of them. My life is now complete. I'll just bash my head against this energy shield, which is much nicer than many I've seen by the way, I like the green, until I start seeing pixies." His hit his head against it once and left it there. "Do me a favour? Call Cassie and get her over here? She can vouch for me and I think you'll want to hear what she has to say."

Dawn looked at Oz, but he looked just as puzzled as she was. She flicked open her cell phone and called Cassie's number.

----x----

Jon sighed in relief when Cassie walked through the door, though he couldn't say she looked the same.

"Jon! Are you ok?" She rushed over, but didn't touch the shield. Smart girl.

Jon tried to smile for her. "I'm fine Cassie. Mind telling these fine folks that I'm not a Guld so we can all have a nice chat?"

"A Guld?" Cassie looked hesitantly between Jon and the others, asking for permission. Good to know she took the whole 'classified' thing secretly.

He nodded. "Yeah. They said it first."

Cassie still didn't look very certain, but turned to Dawn and Oz. "Jon's not a Guld."

"How do you know?" Oz said.

Cassie looked to him for permission and he just nodded. There was no way they were getting out of this without at least a little trust on both sides. He should have got them to call the mountain, had an SG team here to find out what they knew, but he didn't want to put them through that if he didn't have to. The SGC tried, but they were still the airforce and they had protocol to follow. Interrogation about how they knew about classified information would not be a pleasant chat over coffee.

Cassie swallowed. "I can tell. One of them did something to me when I was little: experiments. I can always tell when one of them is around. Jon isn't one of them."

Dawn and Oz shared a look. The guy was practically the same height as her. Jon felt for him: at least Jon knew he was due a growth spurt in another year or two. Dawn stepped forward and scrubbed out a little of the circle with her foot and the shield abruptly vanished.

"Huh. Neat trick." He stepped out of the circle with exaggerated caution and rubbed his hands together. "Right then! Mine's a beer if you've got it and anyone who gives me the underage speech goes out the window."

He led the way into the living room and sank into the squidgy couch. Oz offered him a beer and he accepted it gratefully, taking a long gulp before he addressed the people that had settled around him. Cassie was perched close to him on the sofa, watching him nervously, while Oz and Dawn sat directly opposite them across the coffee table.

Well, the battle lines had been drawn. Time to see what he could do to get out of this mess.

Dawn got there first. "How do you know about the Guld if you don't believe in demons?"

Straight to the great tangled classified point of it all.

"Setting aside whether the Guld are demons or not for the moment," Jon said diplomatically, because frankly, he was having a hard time with the demon idea. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You need to know that all information about the Guld is classified so top secret only the President and select people who work directly with the SGC even know they exist. You probably realise that means both Cassie and I have had direct involvement with that program, but we can't tell you any more than we already have. I've said too much already and I'll catch hell if anyone finds out about this, but the weirdness in your spare room makes me think this isn't something the airforce would understand."

"SGC?" Oz asked. He and Dawn both looked wary at the mention of the airforce. "Any relation to the Initiative?"

Jon shook his head. "Sorry never heard of them."

"You might want to look them up-"

"Or not!" Dawn said quickly, glaring at Oz. "After what they did to you-"

"Dawn."

Jon was impressed with this young man. It wasn't often you saw someone so composed, let alone someone barely out of college. He directed his questions at Oz almost unconsciously.

"I need you to tell me what you know about the Guld. I'm sorry I can't reciprocate, but if you don't tell me I will have to call in the SGC. They're good people, but I'd rather avoid it if you catch my drift."

Oz met his gaze steadily and nodded. He spoke quietly.

"Demons, vampires, witches...werewolves. They all exist. Most of the time no one notices because most places have so few evil things around the odd mysterious death is written off as one of those things." He paused and Jon waited patiently for him to go on. "Dawn and I grew up in Sunnydale, California. Also know as the Mouth of Hell. The reason why most places don't notice the evil things in the night is because they get drawn to certain places: literal entryways to hell dimensions. The only way to survive in those places is to fight and hope you have a lot of back up."

Jon frowned. He was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt (he was a clone made by little grey aliens for God's sake, he could give them that much), but this was a little far out even for him. "How come no one else hears about this?"

"Sunnydale blindness," Dawn chipped in. "Mom had it for years. When people come up against something they can't understand they just grab on to any excuse they're given. I mean Mom went after Spike, he's a vampire, with an axe one time, saw the ugly vamp face and everything and just wrote it off to people on drugs when someone told her to."

"Ok," Jon said slowly. "I won't say I'm convinced, but I've seen enough unbelievable stuff that I'm prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt. Can you tell me about the Guld?"

Oz looked at Dawn and suddenly she looked nervous. She looked at the floor for a moment, but looked into his eyes defiantly when she began to speak.

"The Guld are these ancient snakey demon things from way back in the mists of time that take over people's bodies. According to Giles no one's seen one in over ten thousand years, but we found this ancient spell that exorcises them. You see, the people are still there, but like, trapped inside their own bodies not in control. The Guld can look and act completely normal: using the person's memories, but their hosts have long lives and one book said their eyes glow, though I doubt anyone would show that off if they were possessed. Willow, she's a witch, taught me the spell to get rid of them. If you'd had one of them in you it would have come out of your mouth, which sounds really gross, and then we'd have to kill it, but you'd have had your body back."

Ok this was different, but in the end demons, gods or aliens it all amounted to the same thing. Jon sat back on his seat, thinking. A way to get rid of a Guld without damaging the host or giving them over to the Tok'ra to do their thing. It was worth investigating, but there was no way the SGC would research a spell...

"Wait," Jon said, "why did you think there was a Guld here?"

"Willow told us. She sensed one here."

From Cleveland? That sounded worth investigating too. "Just one?"

Dawn shrugged. "At least one, but since we haven't been able to find any I'm guessing only one."

Yeah right, Jon thought, my luck is never that good.

"Uh," Cassie said hesitantly, "why did you think Jon was one?"

Jon had assumed because he was so bad at acting like a teenager...

Oz spoke. "We got a report about an English teacher who left under strange circumstances during a fire alarm and the students who were thought to have been involved in the incident."

Dawn took over. "I was sent to look into it, but since Bobby, Neil and Cassandra were normal I figured that whatever had been in Mr Lester had gone into you."

For relative values of 'normal'. He was interested in who that 'we' might be: they way they talked about reports and 'being sent' it sounded like an organisation and one to look out for at that. But right now he had something new to consider. He leaned forward again.

"Ok, here's the thing. There is almost certainly more than one Guld out there, we're not sure how many. They are specifically after me, and no I can't tell you why, but that means they should stick close by. They may or may not be aware that Cassie can sense them inside people, but since she's not felt any more around school since Mr Lester I think we can assume they do and they're keeping out of range. The SGC is looking for them, but no luck as yet. Neil and Bobby know something weird went down and they've been sworn to secrecy, but they don't know any details." He took a deep breath and tried to forget he was still technically in the airforce. "I won't tell the SGC what you know, and Cassie you can't tell Janet. The SGC has been compromised in the past. Having a way to care of the Guld outside of the airforce may just work out."

"Ja-! Jon!" Cassie said, correcting herself quickly.

"It's ok Cassie. I'm sure if they ever find out about this they'll understand. I'll tell Jack in case anything happens, but I want this outside the SGC ok?"

She looked at him mutely for a minute, then nodded.

Jon stood. "Keep your eyes and ears open and we'll do the same. If you suspect anyone tell Cassie and she can confirm, but do not make a move without informing me ok? There's still a lot you don't know and I don't want either of you getting hurt."

Dawn stood too and glared at him. "You know we'd stand less chance of getting hurt if you just told us what we don't know!"

Jon narrowed his eyes. "I'm doing the best I can. I've already told you more than I should have, but I will not say anything that might put anyone at the SGC in jeopardy, clear?"

"So you just put us in harms way instead?!"

"No. That is why I said do not make a move without me. As long as they don't suspect you know anything you're perfectly safe."

Dawn opened her mouth to start yelling again, but Oz put a hand on her arm and she quickly quieted, though the pouty look she threw him was pure teenager. Jon sighed.

"Dawn," Oz said calmly. "Why don't you walk Cassie home? It's late."

She huffed out a sigh. "Fine. Where's my stake?" She picked up pointy bit of wood from between the sofa cushions and stuffed it in her bag.

Jon said goodby to Cassie. She looked so worried, but he managed to resist stroking her hair. That was something Jack would do, not him.

Dawn slammed the door shut and he was alone with Oz.

"So," Jon said lightly, "what can I do for you that you didn't want Dawn to hear?"

Oz smiled. "When you go to see this 'Jack' person I want to come with you. I'm here to make sure Dawn is safe. I won't let her be put in any danger."

Jon met his gaze and nodded slowly. "Anything else?"

"I know you're not completely human. I won't tell anyone what you are, but you have to tell me right now or we leave and send someone else to sort out the problems here."

He said it in his usual serene manner, but his eyes were dark and stern and Jon had no doubt that he did not want to meet whoever would come in their place. He didn't want to lose whatever this spell was either.

He tried to smile, to make light of it. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm 100% human. In fact I was made in the finest facility in the galaxy, but I guess even the best facilities have their screw ups. The DNA I was cloned from was right-protected and had to be fixed, so instead of being a man over fifty I'm a sixteen year old boy and isn't this fun to do again."

"You're a clone?"

"You betcha." His smile faded quickly. "Only a handful of people in the world know who and what I am. I'm taking a chance that you can respect that."

It wasn't really a question, but Oz nodded in acceptance and Jon felt a little weight lifted from his chest.

----x----

"God Jon is so annoying!" Dawn yelled to the world in general. "Who put him in charge, huh? Like he even knew about demons before today!"

Cassie smiled to herself, but only because Dawn was right. Jon forgot sometimes that he wasn't in command and acted just like Uncle Jack. Not that she could tell Dawn that. Her smile faded.

They walked in silence for a moment.

"Hey, Cassandra, if I tell you something can you keep it secret? What am I saying? Of course you can keep a secret after...Whatever happened to you...Happened." Dawn flapped incoherently.

"I wish I could tell you what happened, but it's classified. I'd get in big trouble if I said anything."

"No!" Dawn sighed. "I mean I understand why you can't tell me. Believe me I understand. There's some things, some stuff about what happened in Sunnydale and Cleveland...Some stuff I can't say and some I don't even want to think about." She sighed again. "But that's the thing. Some of the bad stuff that happened in Sunnydale was due to these army guys calling themselves the initiative. They were researching demons, trying to build a better soldier till their creation went all Frankenstein's monster on them."

She stopped, her face deadly serious and Cassie stopped with her.

"The thing is Oz is here to look after me, but I also have to look after him. The Initiative captured him and did experiments on him because of what he is. I need to know that this SGC Jon keeps talking about won't do the same if they find out about him. I figured when you said you'd been experimented on..."

Cassie held Dawn's hand and looked straight into her eyes, willing her friend to believe her.

"Dawn, I don't really know what you're talking about, but the SGC would never do anything to hurt anyone just because of what they are. I probably shouldn't say anything, but...Some bad stuff happened to me and the people at the SGC saved me. I'm...I'm not a normal person, but Jack, that's Jon's uncle, and the others treat me just like any other kid." She longed to tell Dawn about Teal'c and Jon and the Tok'ra, but she didn't dare. "You can trust them."

Dawn nodded and started walking again, Cassie falling into step beside her. "Ok, I'll trust them, for now."

Cassie was sure whether to ask, but while they were being open... "You said they were experimenting on demons and Oz-"

Dawn waved away her questions. "Oh Oz isn't a demon, he's just a werewolf."

Cassie had heard the term before, but it wasn't something that came up in conversation often and she wondered whether she had got it right. "Like in the stories?"

Dawn nodded. "Pretty much. Wolf three nights of the month round the full moon, human the rest of the time. Though Oz is a bit different. He met all these shamans and sorcerers while he was travelling looking for a cure and now he can be a wolf or human whenever he wants."

"Shamans?"

Dawn grinned. "Oh yeah! And sorcerers, witches, witch doctors..."


	4. Chapter 4

"So we'll be leaving Friday after school and getting back on Sunday." Ms MacKensie flicked through the papers in front of her. "Now you've all had a check list: make sure you have everything marked on there as essential and if you can get some of the desirable items that would certainly make life easier. Those of you coming for extra geography credits remember your course books so you know what you're looking for and those of you coming along for the astronomy club I'll only have two telescopes, so please bring your own if you've got them. Have I forgotten anyone?"

"Life sciences miss!" Came a voice from the back of the crowded class.

The bell rang.

"Right!" Ms MacKensie yelled over the noise of students getting ready to leave. "Life sciences remember your books and specimen jars and anything else you think you'll need! I'll see you all tomorrow by the buses! Jon O'Neill please stay behind for a moment!"

"Yes miss?"

She looked flustered to find him right next to her. "Oh! Jon, yes, given your situation I understand I haven't got a permission slip from your parents, but I wanted to check with you that you're comfortable with the risks that come with any trip. You need to be responsible for your own wellbeing this weekend."

"I promise not to sue the school if anything happens," he said with a smile.

Ms MacKensie fixed him with a look. "Thank you, but that really isn't the point-"

Jon stopped her with a gesture and a smile. "Don't worry I've been on a few camping trips in my time. I can take care of myself. I'll see you tomorrow."

Yeah he was pretty sure he could handle a school camping trip. Compared to some of the missions he'd been on (on-world and off-world) it'd be a breeze. It least it was unlikely that anyone was going to be shooting at him this time.

He was looking forward to the trip in spite of himself. A chance to get away from it all for a while, fishing by day, watching the stars by night: sounded like heaven. And since the only people on the trip were people who had been in that classroom and Cassie wasn't running up to him to warn him about Goa'uld, it looked like he might actually be able to relax without the fear of alien invasion as well.

Sweet.

Of course he could have done without Bobby and Dawn going too. Bobby he had kind of been resigned to knowning that meathead's grades, but he really thought Dawn would have been all right. Turned out transferring so late in the semester wasn't so great for the GPA: she was looking for extra credit in geography and life sciences this weekend.

"Hey Jon, there you are. What did MacKensie want you for?"

Jon returned Neil's smile, suddenly thinking of Daniel as the kid pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Oh, uh, just covering the school's collective butt over the whole lack of parental permission thing."

"Man, it must be so cool to live on your own! My mum is still trying to convince me not to go. She thinks I'll end up walking off the end of a cliff or something."

Jon stopped at their lockers and opened his. He tried to remember what he needed to be taking home to do his homework. "She's just trying to look out for you."

Neil was filling up his own bag with everything from his locker. The kid might not be that great at Phys Ed, but for sheer pack mule ability there was no one better. Jon had seen airforce trainees balk at that kind of weight on their backs.

"Yeah right. I just wish she'd lay off for a while." He picked out the last book and flicked it open. "Hey, I think I had a breakthrough with this word we were trying to figure out. Here."

Jon took the book and knew as soon as he saw it that Neil had cracked it. Ancient repositories: really useful once you already knew the answer, but try and remember something from them on your own…

He tried not to show his frustration at the way his brain was wired. "That's it, you got it. You have a real gift for this stuff."

Neil shrugged and slammed his locker. "It's easy really."

He said it like it was nothing and Jon tried not to be jealous, with mixed results.

He looked back his locker and sighed, slamming it shut. Not much point in taking too much back tonight: he just remembered he was taking Oz over to Jack to discuss the latest weirdness. Ah well, by tomorrow evening he'd be able to put it behind him for a couple of days at least.

"Hey you bringing your telescope on the trip?" Neil asked a little too nonchalantly.

Jon smirked. "Yes, we can share. Wouldn't want you to have to use one of those crappy school ones after all."

----x----

"Hey kid, you didn't say you were bringing a friend."

Jack looked warily at Oz, but Jon just pushed past him and carried on to the living room.

"Oz, meet Jack, Jack this is Oz."

He ignored their pleasantries to each other and headed straight for the cartons of Chinese food waiting on the counter that separated the living room from the open plan kitchen. He found cutlery in the drawer and got enough out for everyone, before making himself at home on one of the stools by the counter and digging in.

Making himself at home…that was all too easy to do here in his own house. He remembered coming back here countless times after a hard mission, watching Star Wars with T or trying to get Carter to admit she liked the Simpsons, ribbing Danny till he finally relaxed.

No, that wasn't his life anymore, but it wasn't so easy to be reminded of it.

Jack came back in with Oz trailing behind. He took a look at Jon helping himself, but Jon could almost feel his internal shrug. They were the same person: they couldn't exactly act like host and guest.

Jack offered Oz a seat and grabbed a carton of his own.

"So what's so important you needed to talk to me without the others." Jack asked and Jon could see he was wary. He would have been. As a rule they didn't like surprises: it rarely turned out well.

Jon nodded to Oz while he finished his mouthful.

"Oz and a friend of his know about demons called Goa'uld that possess people."

That got his attention. Jon could see Jack working through all the things Jon had thought when he'd first heard that little piece of information.

"You don't say? Do you want to back up a little and explain?"

Oz nibbled on a prawn cracker. "We thought Jon was one."

Jon shared Jack's lack of amusement. That brush with the Tok'ra was closer than he had ever wanted to come to one of the snakes.

Jon and Oz explained what had happened that evening. How Jon had been caught and why, what Dawn and Oz had explained about demons, how Cassie had got involved-

"What did you think you were doing?!" Jack exclaimed at the mention of Cassie.

Jon wasn't impressed. "Come on, you would have done the same thing. Cassie and Dawn are friends, they trust each other and I needed someone who could vouch for me."

"Has high school made you forget what 'classified' means?"

"Don't be an ass old man. We only break the rules when it's really really necessary and believe me this counts."

Jack put down his empty carton with a sigh. "Fine. Care to explain why it's so necessary?"

Jon slurped up the last of his. "Because they have a way of removing a Guld without killing the host?"

Jack leant forward eagerly. "How?"

"Magic," Jon said, straight-faced.

Jack paused and looked between the two young men at his counter. "Seriously?"

Jon still wasn't 100% convinced himself. He looked to Oz. "Got any tricks you can do to show him?"

Oz smiled, but Jon couldn't help feeling there was something predatory about it. "Only one, but you wouldn't like it."

"O-k," Jack said slowly. He turned to Jon. "Some stuff has been going on at the base. Weirder than usual I mean, so I'll bite for now. I'm trusting you on this kid."

Jon snorted and stood. "Of course you are old man. If not us then who?"

Jon knew he shouldn't speak about himself in the plural, not with Oz right there, but he knew himself. Him and Jack: they didn't trust people too easily.

Jon led the way to the front door, but held a hand before Jack could shut it behind them. "The weird at the SGC: need a hand?"

Jack smirked. "Got one. Remind me to introduce you sometime: you'll get a kick out of him."

Jon nodded and waved good bye. "Later old man."

"See ya kid."

Oz spoke as they walked down the path to the car. "I can see why he's the one you trust."

Jon met his eyes, and there was no denying the certainty he saw in them.

"If not myself then who?"

----x----

Dawn pulled the guide rope and watched her tent fall in on itself for about the zillionth time. How were these things supposed to work and how in the heck did Jon get his up so quick?

"I think we're doing it wrong." Cassandra said, throwing down the mallet onto the heap of tent fabric.

Dawn frowned in concentration. "We can do this. It can't be that hard!"

"Ladies? Need a hand?"

Dawn and Cassandra rolled their eyes at each other at Bobby's words.

"Like you could do any better," Cassandra said. "Why don't you concentrate on your own tent?"

"Hey! A gentleman always helps the ladies first."

Dawn snickered. "Exactly why you should go back to your own tent." She ignored his put out look and sighed. "Maybe we should just sleep under the stars. That's what Oz does when he's out in the woods and he doesn't seem to mind."

"Yeah but Oz is..." Cassie faltered, casting a wary glance at Bobby. "Oz. He's used to it." She slapped at her arm suddenly. "And I don't fancy being eaten alive by mosquitos all night."

Jon sauntered over, grinning and rubbing his hands. "Howdy campers how's it going?"

"Fine," Bobby said quickly. "I was just about to help the girls put up their tent."

"Great!" Jon clapped his hands. "Then I'm heading down to the lake. There's bass out there with my name on 'em."

"Jon!" Cassandra called angrily as he turned to leave.

"What?"

Dawn surpressed a growl. "Don't be such an ass! Help us get this up!"

Jon shook his head, but came over and started working with them. "How can you not know how to put a tent up?"

Bobby watched them from the sidelines. "How come you're so good at it?"

Jon shrugged. "Went on a lot of camping trips before. Here take this."

They worked quietly and in a few minutes it was up. Dawn grudgingly thanked Jon before he went to help Bobby with his. She didn't know what to think about this guy. She had actually kind of liked him, even when she had thought that he might be possessed. It wasn't ofen she met someone her age that took any aspect of life seriously. It was why she liked Cassie too: she guessed because they had both been through stuff, but Jon...When they had confronted him it had been like he had just cast aside the personality she had known. He had been just like a soldier, taking command, giving orders, demanding they explain everything while he didn't give them a thing. He reminded her of Buffy dealing with the First, or worse: Riley. The others might have forgiven Riley for being such a stiff, military jerk, but Dawn hadn't. Jon was just like him, acting like he knew everything, when he didn't at all. Even the Initiative knew what demons were even if they didn't have a clue of what to do with them.

Dawn sighed and went to fetch her books. She didn't have time to think about Jon. She needed extra credit for geography and life sciences if she was going to pass this semester.

Why couldn't school teach something useful like demon languages or weaponcraft?

No, instead she was going to spend her weekend hiking, looking at rocks, collecting specimens and writing notes on everything she saw and did. Fun.

"Come on Dawn, we better go," Cassandra said, gesturing over to where most of the students had started to gather around Ms MacKensie, Mr Thatcher, Mr Osborne and another man. Dawn set her books down, zipped up the tent and followed her friend.

"Everyone gather round please!" Ms MacKensie said, though most of the students were already there. "Everyone! I'm glad to see you all managed to get your tents up and your gear sorted. Now, geography and life sciences, please get some rest this evening. We will be starting bright and early tomorrow morning with a hike: I expect you all to have your books and any food or drink you might need with you. Astronomy club, we won't be going too far tonight, but we will be leaving as soon as the sun goes down, so please have your scopes and notebooks ready. Mr Osborne will be round soon to check you have a proper area for your camping stoves and will be passing out the food. Ok, I think that's everything. Oh wait!" The students turned back. "This is Ranger Mike Peterson, he'll be keeping an eye on us during our stay in the park. If you have any questions about the local area, be sure to ask him, I'm sure he would be happy to help."

The ranger smiled. "That's right. The ranger station is less than a mile away so I know this area pretty well. Anything you all need, just let me know."

He actually tipped his hat.

Dawn shut her mouth: she couldn't believe he'd just done that. How...Cliche.

She turned to Cassandra to share it with her, but stopped when she saw the stiffness in her friend's frame.

"Cassandra?" she asked. "Are you ok?"

She reached towards her, but pulled back when Cassandra suddenly flinched.

Cassandra looked at her wide-eyed. "Sorry," she said in low tones, her voice tight. "Did you see where Jon went?"

"He said he was going to the lake." Dawn searched the crowd, certain she knew what was up. "Wait, there he is," she pointed to where Jon and Neil sat by their tent, discussing whatever was in the notebook they were holding. She took Cassandra's hand. "Come on."

As they hurried over Dawn tried not to feel excited. They had found one. She was going to get to do the spell: her stomach rolled over in fear at the thought, but she felt good too. Finally she was going to be able to do something rather than just be Junior Watcher Girl.

"Jon," she said as they approached. "Can we talk to you?"

Jon looked up, hastily closing the notebook, though Neil frowned at him and opened it again, flicking through to try and find the right page. Dawn couldn't be sure, but she thought she recognised the script that was written in it. She have to ask Neil about it later, since Jon was obviously determined to be an ass.

Or maybe not. As soon as he saw Cassandra he stood, concern writ large over his face. "Ah crap. Who?"

Neil looked up, interested. Dawn wasn't going to rat him out. Neil had a right to know about the Guld as much as anyone, being involved with them before and all. Not that she was going to tell him herself. It was never a good idea to tell people about demons out of the blue, but if he overheard something that was hardly her fault.

Cassandra looked frightened, but her voice was strong. "The ranger."

Jon sighed. "I can never have a nice relaxing weekend. Just do some stargazing, some fishing..." he sighed and looked to Dawn.

"You got everything you need with you?"

Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. "Like I'm going to leave home without it when it could be anyone."

"This is one of those "Mr Lester" situations again huh?" Neil said, looking up at them from where he was sat. He pushed his glasses up his nose in a nervous gesture since they were already all the way up. "Should we warn someone? Call those people again?"

"No." Jon's voice was absolute. "We have a different plan this time and can't risk it realising we know it's there." Jon rubbed his eyes for a moment then looked up at Dawn. "How long do you need to do your thing?"

He was taking control again! This was supposed to be her assignment: why did he have to come in a take control!

"I don't need your help."

He met her gaze without flinching. "You don't? The second you start chucking stuff on him and saying that stuff it's going to know you know and it's going to stop you. He may look normal, but he's stronger, faster, and more cruel than you can imagine and he will kill you without a second's thought if he can."

Dawn laughed and spoke in a fierce whisper. "Try being hunted by a turok-han or a gnarl or even a plain old vampire! I live with a werewolf! I can handle myself."

Jon's eyes hardened. "This isn't about you or what you think you are capable of. This isn't even about whatever you've dealt with before. I know these things and with a troop of airmen here I wouldn't take any chances. You are going to have all the backup I can get for you from these kids and be nice and controlled because we cannot afford to let even one of these things slip out of our grip." He paused and Dawn didn't even try to step in. She didn't know what this guy was, but she was starting to think that SGC place he talked about was something to look in to.

"Now," Jon said calmly and firmly. "we're pretty limited out here, so we're going to need all the help we can get. I'm sorry about this Cassie, but Dawn, I need you to teach Cassie the spell in case anything happens."

Dawn cut him off, exasperated. "There's no way! It's in this ancient demon language. I've been learning it for months and I had Willow teaching me. I mean it's not like it's difficult, as languages go, but it's not like there's an English/Demon dictionary out there."

Dawn watched the thoughts passing across Jon's face. "How Ancient? Can you show me?"

Dawn rolled her eyes and stomped back to her tent to fetch the book. This was stupid. These people had no idea what they were dealing with. For a moment she wished Buffy were here, but stomped on it. She didn't need Buffy. She could do this by herself. It would be nice to have someone around who knew the score though. On the way back she slipped her phone out of her pocket and sent a text to Oz.

Buffy had called it a weapon. Dawn just hoped she was right.

"Here," she said, passing the book over to Jon.

He held it surprisingly delicately. Giles had yelled at her over and over again for treating the really old books too roughly, but of course Jon had to be just perfect in that respect too. He flicked through the pages, his eyes scanning the text as if he actually understood it. No way: there was no way that was possible. He screwed his eyes shut for a moment and rubbed his head.

"Jon?" Cassandra asked. "Are you ok?"

"Peachy. Neil come take a look at this." Neil shuffled over and Jon pointed to some of the passages. "See this here, and this?"

Neil's eyes widened behind his thick specs, his dark fringe falling forward and scanned the page before they turned to look from Jon to Dawn and back again. "It's kind of like that language you've been teaching me. I'm not really following, but I thought she said it was an ancient language. Something with demons?"

Jon waved his comment away. "I'll let Dawn explain the demons, she knows more than I do, but think you could learn a couple of passages of this by the time we get back from the trip tonight?"

"No way!" Dawn said, drawing curious glances from the other students, but unable to contain herself. "There is no way you know this too! What are you?!"

Jon didn't look too pleased either. "Don't ask. Can you teach him how the rest of it works if he learns the words?"

Dawn looked at Neil, sat on the ground in his mac and cheap and functional shoes. If his hair wasn't so greasy and he didn't have the glasses...and he had a worse fashion sense he'd look a lot like Xander did when he was in high school. She knew she'd never really known Xander when he was in high school (she had been just a blob of green energy then), but she still had memories of what he had looked like. Even Xander could learn this spell: it didn't take any natural talent, just the right words at the right time. And the powder.

She sighed, beaten. "Sure. I can teach him."

Jon was looking at her with sympathy, though she wasn't sure why. "Thanks. Cassie, stay with them ok?"

"Where are you going?" She asked.

Jon just stood. "To get some more help."

----x----

"Hey!"

Bobby turned around to sort out whoever had found them, but took a step back when he realised who it was. The others were already trying to subtly cover up the cans they had smuggled away from camp.

"What do you want O'Neill?" Jesse said, all sneers.

Jon just looked at Bobby and raised and eyebrow. "I'll take one of those beers for a start."

Before Jesse could say anything Jon was catching the beer Bobby had thrown to him and was cracking it open. He took a long slug. He was going to need it for this conversation.

He pulled a face. "Rough. Remind me to clue you in on the decent stuff." There was a pause as everyone waited for him to leave. He cocked his head. "Bobby, can I talk to you?"

Bobby looked back at his friends briefly, but ignored their curious looks as he went to join Jon out of hearing distance.

Jon took another sip of the beer. Rough it might have been but it did the job.

"What do you want?" Bobby said.

Jon didn't have the time or the patience for the teenage boy posturing so cut straight to the point. "You remember what happened with Mr Lester? Well the same thing is happening with the Park Ranger here, only this time we have to fix it on our own." Not strictly true. He could call in the SGC any time, but then they wouldn't get the intel they needed on this "spell", so for all intents and purposes they were on their own for this one. "We've got help. Dawn has a way to turn the ranger back to normal, but he has to be immobile for at least a few minutes while she does her thing."

Bobby looked at him warily. "You got that thing you used last time? Seemed to work pretty ok."

Jon nodded. He had the zat in his bag, never went anywhere without it these days. "Yeah I've got it, but I'd rather not rely on that by itself. I got lucky last time, real lucky, and I'd like some backup this time."

"Me?"

"Got it in one. You're the only other person here who already knows what's the what and no one else can know, understand?"

Bobby blanched. Yeah the airforce could get pretty scary about warning civilians about things like "Top Secret" and "National Security".

Bobby nodded. "I get it."

"Good, because it's you and me on him ok? I'm trusting you to help me keep the others safe. Apart from Dawn they've not got a chance if he goes for them."

Bobby nodded again. "Dude, what is she?"

Jon rolled his eyes and raised his can in salute. "A pain in my ass. Let's hope she knows what she's doing." He finished off the can. "When Neil and I join the astronomy club on the trip you're to go with Dawn and Cassie to the ranger's cabin ok? Whatever she needs you to do to prepare you do exactly what she says, but by 11 we're going to be coming for you and you've got to be ready for anything once the ranger comes in that door. Whatever doubts you've got get rid of them because we can't afford them. I'll be right on his heels, but he's going to be pissed the second he sees anyone there and you have to protect the girls. Understand?"

Bobby swallowed, but nodded. "You can count on me."

He was going to have to. God, he was going after a Goa'uld with a pack of kids and a magic book. He needed a miracle to get them through this.

----x----

The astronomy trip rolled round all too quickly

Neil was still muttering the spell to himself as they hiked to their viewing spot. If he listened Jon could almost make out what he was saying, the spell was close enough to Ancient, but he preferred not to. Aliens he could handle, even having alien databases in his head, but he wasn't quite ready for spells. He kept an inconspicuoous eye on the friendly ranger instead. The guy knew his forest, Jon had to hand him that, and if he wasn't inhabited by an alien snake bent on universal domination he would have respected him a lot more. As it was there wasn't much to look out for though. Their guide was in full ranger mode and Jon doubted he even realised he had a snake in his head. The last one had been immature enough to not be able to control Mr Lester unless he was asleep and Jon suspected this one to be the same.

No reason not to take all precautions though. His zat was clipped to the back of his trousers, covered by a jacket just a little too warm for this time of year and he was careful not to make any moves that might be considered suspicious. Neil was a weird enough kid that the other's had already ribbed him for being more interested in dead languages than the present, which effectively wrote off his muttering as long as the Guld didn't understand ancient. Now all they had to do was wait.

And look at the stars

Jon missed them, missed seeing them up close in ships and visiting whole new solar systems via the gate, but gazing up at them on a warm clear night wasn't half bad either.

Neil tensed when the teacher told them to pack up for the walk back to camp. Luckily the ranger was helping some of the others and Jon took the opportunity to whisper too him.

"Stay cool. Hang back with me when we get to camp and get ready to dump the bags and go. Just follow me and it'll be ok."

Neil nodded stiffly and finished packing up.

By the time they were back at camp Jon could feel the adrenaline running through his own system and had to remind himself that Neil wasn't one of his team as he directed the kid wordlessly. He couldn't afford to treat Neil like Daniel. He was a good kid, but this was brand new to him and he was obviously terrified. Jon strengthened his resolve: he'd be strong for Neil.

They slipped in behind the ranger as he headed back to his cabin. Jon kept them at a distance when he realised how loud Neil was moving through the woods, but always kept the ranger in sight. Finally they spotted the cabin. The ranger opened the door and Jon dashed forward, not waiting for Neil to catch up.

The cabin was warmly lit inside, cozy and not huge. Dawn had put the containment circle right inside the door and while the ranger looked on in shock Jon pushed him into it, the green energy snapping into place the second the Goa'uld was inside.

He paused for a moment, taking stock while the Goa'uld, now very aware of what was happening, battered on the inside of the shield and screamed in it's own language. Cassie stood in the far corner, out of the way, Dawn the other side of the circle from Jon and Bobby to his left, nice and close in case of trouble. Jon nodded in approval as Neil arrived and edged around him to stand by Dawn, hovering near the book and the small pouch that held the sparkly stuff.

"I do like the green," he said in thought, looking at the shield.

Dawn pouted. "It's supposed to be clear. Stupid monks."

He wasn't sure what that was about, but time to get on with the show.

"Hey!" He yelled at the Guld. "Quiet down already! We're not impressed. Dawn, getting it going."

She nodded tightly threw the powder through the shield and started to speak. The Guld just glared at her to start with, then let it's eyes flash as it turned to Jon.

"What is this O'Neill? A child speaking words? Have the tauri no more weapons?"

"Do I know you?"

Jon knew it was a mistake as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Like a Guld would worry about classified information.

It grinned obscenely. "I am a servant of the great god Ba'al Colonel Jack O'Neill. Yes, we know you. How galling it must be: the great Colonel O'Neill's mind trapped in the body of a child. An Asgard joke, but a useful one. How much easier it will be for my master to break you than the last time..."

Jon whipped the zat out of his trousers. "Ok, I think you're done talking now."

"What's he talking about?" Bobby asked in wonder, so intent on Jon he wasn't watching his own feet.

"Stay off the circle!" Jon yelled, but it was too late. Bobby's shoe scuffed a hole in the circle and in a second the Guld had pounced on Dawn, knocking the girl to the floor. Jon fired and didn't wait till the energy had even fully dissipated before he pulled the alien off the girl. He wasn't alone for long: Bobby piled on the fallen alien with him and Jon let him watch the thing for half a second as he turned to Neil.

"Finish it!"

He didn't wait for Neil's response, but soon heard the words of the spell start up again, hesitant at first, but steadily growing more certain. The words ended, the powder shimmered and Dawn opened her eyes in time to see the Guld thrash under the two boys. They kept their hold, even when the translucent form of the immature Guld emerged from the ranger's mouth.

The perfectly alive and well Guld.

Jon darted away, but Bobby and Dawn hadn't had their reflexes honed by knowing what it was like to be inhabited by one of them. The snake darted at Dawn. So fast-

"No!" The furious scream from corner of the room reverberated the hut and with a squelch the snake exploded into sticky tendrils.

Jon looked at Cassie. "Hail Dorothy."

Bobby followed his gaze until he quelled the boy's curiosity with a look.

"Uh, Colonel?" Neil said, taking a step back from the ranger where he was starting to rise.

Jon sighed. Oh yeah this was going to be good. He was going to have to find a way to convince Neil never to say that again. He settled for lending a strong arm to the ranger.

"Ok buddy up you come."

The ranger shook in his arms. His eyes darted into every corner of the room. "W-where is it?"

"It ok-" Jon started.

"Cassandra exploded it." Dawn said succintly. She found a blanket somewhere and wrapped it around the ranger's shoulders. "All that's left is a smear on the rug. Sorry about that by the way."

Jon and Dawn guided the shell shocked ranger to a chair where he shook and stared at Jon.

"It was an alien. It knew you, remembered you, but as an old man. On a ship in space. Tied to...Something horrible. How is that possible? How is any of this possible?! I had an alien in my head!"

"Alien?" Neil and Bobby looked at each other.

Dawn shrugged. "Alien, demon who cares." She knelt down next to the ranger. "Hey what's your name again?"

"Mike."

She smiled sunnily. "Hi Mike, nice to meet you. I'm Dawn. This is Neil and Bobby and Cassandra and I guess you know Jon, or Jack, or Colonel, or whatever. I know this has been kind of crazy, but you're safe now."

"Kind of?" Mike said uncertainly.

Dawn shrugged. "Compared to my normal life? Yeah, kind of."

Jon had to admire how she dealt with him. She stood and turned to him. "So whoever you are, I'm guessing your airforce people are going to want to be here?"

Jon ran a hand through his hair. "I'm Jon ok?" Oh well in for a dime in for a dollar. "I just have Jack's memories...And biology."

He turned his back and flicked open his cell.

----x----

Dawn sighed and in spite of everything she wished Buffy was here, that Buffy was the one to deal with all this. Sure she was controlling and patronising and never took Dawn seriously, but she was good at this and Dawn didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, but her head was really starting to hurt.

"Are you ok?" Neil asked shyly.

Dawn forced a smile. "I'll be fine. You did a good job finishing that spell."

Neil blushed and nodded thanks.

Oh yeah, she could be in control too even gongs were ringing in her head.

Bobby hooked a thumb at the door. "Hey I'm going to head back to camp. I've been through the whole secrecy thing with the airforce and wouldn't mind skipping a second round. Anyone want to come with?"

Neil looked between him and Jon, still on the phone, talking in low tones. "Sure. I've done this whole bit before too." He turned to the girls. "See you later."

The phone snapped shut.

"Cassie you go with them too. I'll find some other way to explain why the Guld exploded."

Dawn hadn't noticed how pale Cassie had looked before. She looked ready to pass out: whatever magic she had to be able to do what she did it must have taken a lot out of her.

Still Cassie protested. "But Uncle Jack-"

"Jack will accept anything I tell him." Jon grinned. "Or at least he'll understand why I have to lie to him. We kind of think the same."

Cassie smiled wanly and moved to join the boys.

Bobby opened the door and screamed.

Dawn rushed forward. "Oz you came!"

Oz smiled serenly stepping past the stunned boys into the cabin. "Hey."

"See you later," Neil said hurriedly and shoved Bobby out the door. Cassie waved to Oz mutely then followed.

"How did you find us out here?" Jon asked and Dawn smiled as Oz just did his enigmatic look. She gave him a hug.

"Thanks for coming," she said into his shoulder, trying not to shake as he held her. Her head hurt so much. They had come so close it all going wrong. She felt the adrenaline start to leave her and forced back tears. She only pulled away as Jon started to speak.

"Jack and the others will be here soon. They'll want to talk to you both about that spell now that we've got confirmation that it works. You'll have a proper debrief at the mountain."

Dawn felt Oz tense. "I won't go to your base and I won't let Dawn go either. If you want to hear what we have to say you'll do it under our terms."

Jon nodded and, Dawn couldn't believe it, looked almost apologetic when he asked. "Got anything to back that up? The US airforce isn't used to hearing 'no'"

Dawn backed away hurriedly as Oz started to change. She trusted Oz, she really did, but Oz himself had told her he found it too easy too lose control when he changed form. After going on a date with a vampire, the First Evil pretending to be dead people and variously evil/non-evil Spike, Dawn had learned that 'not taking chances' really meant 'treat them like demons until they proved otherwise'.

Oz's eyes looked into hers calmly behind the wolfy facade and she breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a long moment before Jon spoke.

"Yeah that ought to do it. I can't wait to see their faces."


End file.
